Thursday update: Official numbers give hope Northamptonshire is finally getting on top of Covid-19

Fewer people are testing positive for bug, number of hospital deaths slowing down
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There is encouraging news from health officials today over the number of new Covid-19 cases and victims in Northampton.

Public Health England report the 14-day average for the number of fresh positive coronavirus tests in the county is at its lowest since March.

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And Thursday's NHS bulletin revealed no new deaths were recorded at Northampton General Hospital among patients who tested positive for the killer bug when the latest figures were collated at 5pm last night (Wednesday).

Twelve patients are so far known to have died in the week up to June 24 compared to 18 in the previous seven-day period up to June 17.

NHS figures are collated at 5pm and announced at 2pm the following day. But bulletins allow for up to a five-day lag in reporting new deaths — or occasionally longer — so any hospital fatalities which occurred over the weekend may not yet be reflected in the official records which were announced today.

The sobering number of coronavirus victims at NGH stands at 290 while another 211 have died at Kettering General Hospital after today's figures revealed one fatality on Tuesday — the first at the hospital in a week.

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Northampton General Hospital is seeing a slowdown in number of Covid-19 victims. Photo: Getty ImagesNorthampton General Hospital is seeing a slowdown in number of Covid-19 victims. Photo: Getty Images
Northampton General Hospital is seeing a slowdown in number of Covid-19 victims. Photo: Getty Images

PHE's latest figures for infections in the county rose to 1,678 at 9am on Wednesday with three new cases confirmed by lab tests in the previous 24 hours.

That saw the 14-day average for new cases drop to around 6.5 per day compared to more than ten a fortnight ago and over 14 per day at the start of June,

At the peak of the pandemic in mid-April the Northamptonshire saw an average of more than 43 new positive tests each day over a two-week period.

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The news follows similar information from the Office for National Statistics which shows the rate of new infections per 100,000 people falling county-wide.

Office for National Statistics data also identified a further 127 coronavirus-related deaths in Northamptonshire's care homes — although none in the most recent seven-day period up to June 19 which was included in figures announced on Tuesday.

That leaves the total number of known victims in the county currently standing at 628.

Northamptonshire's first Covid-19 victims were a 92-year-old at Northampton General Hospital and 45-year-old dad-of-two Craig Ruston who died at KGH, both on March 16

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Ten more victims have died in the care of Northamptonshire Health Foundation Trust during Covid-19 crisis, according the NHS.

NHFT provides services in the community here and also in other counties. Since no locations have been confirmed for any of the deaths so they are not counted in the confirmed total for Northamptonshire.

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